[JurisDictions podcast] New episode dives into the externalisation of migration control

Published 16 October 2025

A new JurisDictions podcast episode brings together voices from across the legal and academic world to unpack the externalisation of migration controls, the practice of managing migration beyond a country’s own borders.

In this episode, hosts Flora Bensadon and Irem Cakmak speak with Zoe Bantleman, postdoctoral researcher Kris van der Pas and assistant professor Annick Pijnenburg. Together, they explore the moral, political and legal crossroads of this growing practice of externalisation.

The discussion ranges from the European Commission’s proposed reform of the ‘connection requirement’ that determines which country is responsible for examining an asylum claim, to the controversial Italy-Albania deal, asking us to reflect on what shifting migration policies reveal about Europe’s adherence to international refugee law and international human rights law in an interconnected world.

Listen now.

Speakers
Zoe Bantleman – Barrister, Legal Director of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), and DPHil Migration Studies Student, University of Oxford
Dr Kris van der Pas – Postdoctoral Researcher, Tilburg University
Dr Annick Pijnenburg – Assistant Professor, International and European Law, Radboud University

Hosts
Flora Bensadon – Intern, Asser Institute
Irem Cakmak – Intern, Asser Institute

Editor
Carl Lewis, researcher in public international law (Asser Institute) 

JurisDictions: podcast on international law
This educational podcast series by the Asser Institute, research centre for international and European law, explores the stories behind international legal concepts and issues that shape our world.

JurisDictions is available on Apple, Spotify, most podcast platforms, and here. Subscribe now.

View earlier episodes.

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[New policy brief] “The use of transnational repression in the name of security: Implications and concerns"
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The informalisation of the EU's external action in the field of migration and asylum (T.M.C. Asser Press)
This book, edited by Dr Eva Kassoti and Dr Narin Idriz examines the trend set by the EU-Turkey deal whereby the EU resorts ever more often to informal arrangements and deals with third countries in an effort to curb and manage migration flows and facilitate the return of irregular migrants to their countries of origin or transit. The book sheds light on the implications of this trend for the EU constitutional order, the human rights of those affected, the third countries with which the EU cooperates, and the global refugee protection regime. They demonstrate how migration deals raise more issues than they solve; by, for instance, sidestepping established Treaty rules and procedures, violating the human rights of those affected, and overburdening the nascent migration and asylum systems of third country partners. Read more.